Time off, public calendars, OOO messages...

ninadepalma

Hi all! Just wondering how all of you out there deal with letting clients and agencies know about time off. I haven't really had to deal with this yet, but it's something I think about.

How do you let the people you work for know that you won't be available for a long period of time? What about for a short period of time (an afternoon or something)?

My dad is a freelance writer, and I noticed that he includes a link to a public Gmail Calendar in his email signature. He blocks off chunks of time when he knows he has to make phone calls or, say, visit his father (he just puts "busy" when he's unavailable).

What about you? What do you guys do? Also, is there anything crucial you're always sure to put in your out of office (OOO) messages?

Kit_germanloc

I decided on having official office hours a while back, which are listed on my website and in my email signature. It gives my work week more structure and me the possibility to point my clients to them and say "sorry, but you contacted me outside of my office hours,", as well as helping me to actually switch off PC and brain in the evening. Outside of those hours, I set an OoO message. If I have to take a spontaneous afternoon or day off, I will change my OoO accordingly to inform my clients. If I take longer breaks, say more than 2 days, I will notify my regular clients up front.

I have read colleagues arguing about having office hours, as you might miss out on potential jobs if you don't check your emails even after hours, but I have still decided to have them, as not having them started to stress me out (checking emails at 3 in the morning and stuff like that).

ninadepalma

I like this idea a lot. I don't mind at all if I miss out on jobs because I don't work on the weekends. I personally am not willing to translate more than five days a week, since I have a separate, part-time weekend job anyway (and in general I'm a pretty big fan of having strict-ish work hours).

Kit_germanloc

ninadepalma I'm with you on that one. I also find I need some peace and quiet in the evenings, or I go into constant work mode. Not very healthy!